Premier League icon Paolo Di Canio has hailed Leeds United Willy Gnonto for his quick start to life in the Premier League and his “beautiful” strike in the win over Cardiff City.
Gnonto has been a revelation at Leeds since joining in a €4.5m deal from FC Zurich in September, putting in a series of impressive performances in the Premier League and cups.
The highlight of his time at Elland Road so far came in the 5-2 win over Cardiff in the FA Cup, midway through January, in which he scored two of Leeds’ five goals.
One of those was a stunning first time strike in the first minute of the game, in which Gnonto allowed a lofted pass to drop over his shoulder before smashing it beyond goalkeeper Ryan Allsop.
The strike quickly drew comparisons to Di Canio’s own legendary scissor volley in West Ham’s clash with Wimbledon in 2000, a goal that is regularly chosen as one of the best in Premier League history.
“Hi Willy, first off all I want to congratulate you because you have fitted in very quickly into the most beautiful, most coveted, most spectacular, most difficult championship in the world,” he said.
“Well done. But when you score like this I’m getting a lot of phone calls, like I’m your grandfather, asking ‘have you seen it?’
“I saw it, it’s beautiful and very similar (to mine). A very difficult goal. Beautiful, beautiful. Don’t do it better now or they’ll bombard me with phone calls and I can’t answer them all.
“Anyway, well done and God Save the Premier League. Good luck and God Bless.”
